52 pages • 1 hour read
Mark LawrencePrince of Thorns
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 36-38Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary
The story jumps back to shortly after Jorg’s departure from the Tall Castle four years earlier. Jorg and the Nuban are waiting to enter the gate of Count Renar’s capital. The Nuban tells Jorg that Renar will be impossible to assassinate, but Jorg is unswayed, saying he intends to attack the defense upon which Renar depends. The Nuban says that Corion is “Renar’s shield” (282), so Jorg proposes to see him.
Jorg uses the Nuban’s crossbow, which he has shown to Corion, to gain entry to the capital. The two are left outside Corion’s door, and the sorcerer opens it and places them under his power.
Chapter 37 Summary
Jorg and his companions return home, eager to share the news of their improbable defeat of the Castle Red. Jorg is eager to gloat over those who expected him to fail and die but cannot imagine how his father will react. He hopes that Katherine will be impressed.
Jorg and Makin leave the rest in the town outside the Tall Castle and continue to the court. At the court, Jorg looks for Sageous but is informed that the sorcerer is on a mission beyond Ancrath’s borders.
Olidan’s new Queen tries to cast doubt upon Jorg’s success, but Jorg dramatically tells the court that everyone and everything in the Castle Red is now only dust. Olidan rises and approaches his son. Jorg demands that he be given his birthright and allowed to lead Ancrath to victory over the other kingdoms. He takes his eye off Olidan for a moment, and his father promptly sticks a knife under his rib cage, trying to pierce his heart. As he loses consciousness, Jorg sees Makin taken by the guards and Lord Nossar asking if Jorg will be laid in his mother’s tomb.
Chapter 38 Summary
Jorg finds himself beyond the veil of death, with an angel promising him forgiveness and happiness if he will simply set aside his hurt and rage. The angel nearly draws Jorg away several times, but Jorg focuses on his anger and resists. From fear of losing who he is by accepting her invitation, he refuses and is returned to the world of the living.
Chapters 36-38 Analysis
Jorg’s appearance at the Tall Castle is not the triumphant homecoming that he has hoped for. Jorg now knows that Sageous is the real enemy he must defeat but is stymied by the sorcerer’s absence. In addition, Jorg’s demand to be acknowledged as heir to Ancrath and invested with command of its troops is rebuffed in the harshest terms possible when his father digs a knife into his chest.
Jorg’s encounter with the angel is yet another demonstration that his primary character traits are desire for revenge and limitless ambition. The angel gives him an explicit choice between a life of violence and an eternity of bliss. Jorg not only rejects happiness but also revels in the depths of his depravity, seeking to repulse a representation of good.
